The Past Has To Be Painted Pitch Black

You might have noticed that these days the past is on trial, particularly that happy smiley decade, the 1970s. Ageing entertainers are dragged into court and sometimes even found guilty of molesting youngsters, despite the seeming lack of evidence. If you were not yet born, or were very young back then, you might be forgiven for thinking your elders were all wife beating, homophobic, racist kiddie fiddlers, whereas in fact it was a strangely non judgemental time, a gentler time with longer hair, a more hopeful time without debt and the constant war in foreign lands, something we were beginning to think belonged to the past. And above all, it was the most equal decade in the entire history of England. The gap between the rich and the poor was less than ever before or since. Two thirds of Oxbridge graduates were from state schools, manual workers were represented in Parliament, we were not yet monitored from the cradle to the grave, whilst out shopping, at work or going to school. Children were still free to play out!
I could go on, but I am sure you know.
History belongs to the victors and the victors at the moment appear to be the heirs of the New Labour coup of 1997.
However, it seems that the rewriting of history has been going on a long while. As you might have guessed I've been reading some G.K. Chesterton recently, and this is what G.K. had to say, a hundred years ago:

'But the homeless Englishman must not even remember a home. So far from the house being his castle, he must not have even a castle in the air. He must have no memories; that is why he is taught no history. Why is he told none of the truth about mediaeval civilisation except for a few cruelties and mistakes in chemistry? Why does a mediaeval burgher never appear till he can appear in a shirt and halter? Why does a mediaeval monastery never appear till it is 'corrupt' enough to shock the innocence of Henry VIII? Why do we hear of one charter - that of the barons - and not a word of the charters of the carpenters, smiths, shipwrights and all the rest? The reason is that the English peasant is not only not allowed to have an estate, he is not even allowed to have lost one. The past has been painted pitch black, that it may be worse than the present.'